The full changelog is given below:

Bug fixes and Improvements v8.1.7387 - 21st February 2023

• Disk Images
  • Some customers have reported images failing with error 'Invalid Function'. This has been resolved.
• Server Plus
  • Server Plus could fail to start on Server 2003, and on Operating Systems where Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) instructions had been disabled, or not implemented, in the CPU. This has been resolved.
• Various
  Various other minor fixes and changes to improve Macrium Reflect.

In case you missed it, the previous release also had some major improvements which included a fix for blue screen of death (BSOD) errors, performance boosts in terms of disk write speeds, and many more. Sadly though, Reflect is no longer free.

Macrium Reflect "Invalid Function" image fails, Windows Server 2003 AVX startup fails fixed

And although AMD did not claim anything specific about ray tracing, some of the users online reported that they were saying massive improvements by up to 40% in ray tracing specific tests like the DirectX Ray Tracing feature test in 3DMark's suite. However, it was also remarked by such users that they weren't really seeing gains anywhere close in actual games; and it is likely they were right as AMD would surely have had brought up the point in its own performance charts.

To test the claims for ourselves, I used my personal Asus TUF RX 6800 XT OC graphics card and ran a few freely available ray tracing benchmarks. These tests aren't exactly feature tests that load up the rendering test scene with just rays, but are meant to simulate somewhat realistic gaming workloads. Aside from two hardware ray tracing tests which are DirectX 12 only, I also used CryEngine's Neon Noir benchmark which is based on DirectX 11 and does not require decicated hardware for ray tracing, instead relying on compute shaders to do the job. All three benchmarks are listed below:

• Bright Memory: Infinite Ray Tracing Benchmark

• Pure RayTracing benchmark by MARvizer

• CryEngine Neon Noir Ray Tracing Benchmark

Our test rig is given below:

• AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G
• Gigabyte A520M DS3H motherboard
• 2x 8GB Kingston HyperX Predator DDR4-3600 CL17 dual channel memory
• Asus TUF AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT OC
• Kingston A2000 PCIe Gen3 NVMe SSD
• Tested drivers: Adrenalin 22.11.2 and Adrenalin 23.2.1
• OS: Windows 10 22H2 (Build 19045.2486)

In terms of the methodology, we chose to run all the benchmarks at two settings, one at 2160p(4K) at the highest settings, to be totally GPU bound, and also 1080p (FHD) at the lowest available settings, to simulate a somewhat CPU dependent scenario. The latter was done to gauge the overhead of the drivers. We ran each test three times and took the median results.

We also did an 8K run on the Bright Memory benchmark though it was hardly a successful test since the GPU core was barely even stressed as the available 16GB VRAM buffer on the 6800 XT was completely saturated and nearly exhausted (indicated by dedicated memory in the screenshot below). This is also why the GPU power draw, indicated by TGP (total graphics power) and PPT (package power total) are only around 93 Watts. For the same reason, the GPU Junction and Hotspot temperatures are also very low (55 and 65 Celsius respectively).

Moving on, we get into the results of the DX12-based hardware ray tracing numbers first. In Bright Memory, the 4K "Very High" performance of the two drivers is near identical, as in both cases, we achieved ~13 fps. The 1080p "High" preset data though was ever so slightly in favor of the newer driver as the 6800 XT managed 56 fps on the 23.2.1 driver, a lead of 1.82% on top of the 55fps achieved on 22.11.2. However, this is clearly within margin of error and the verdict is essentially a tie.

Things took a turn for the worse in the Pure RayTracing benchmark suite as the newer driver proved to be worse. At 4K using the "Pro Settings" preset, the 23.2.1 driver was 3.3% slower than the 22.11.2. And in the 1080p "Casual Settings" as well, there was a 1.7% fall in performance with the newer driver as it went from 62.64 down to 61.57 fps.

Things are not all bad with the new driver, though. Although technically the CryEngine Neon Noir benchmark is not a hardware ray tracing test, it was interesting to see that newer driver actually delivered some measurable gains here.

In this test, in both instances, ie, at 4K "Ultra" and 1080p "Very High", the 6800 XT was faster on the newer 23.21 driver. At 4K ultra, the difference was 2.04% in favor of the newer driver (4,650 vs 4,706), while in the 1080p Very High test, the 6800 XT was 2.1% ahead of the 22.11.2 (14,645 vs 14,344).

Ultimately, the numbers seen here are pretty uneventful and boring if you are an AMD fan and would have liked to see big gains in ray tracing, perhaps to better compete with Nvidia's RTX 3000 series cards. However, it is hit or miss depending on the different intensity of the workloads.

For example, in more GPU heavy situations that involve higher ray tracing effects like on the Pure RayTracing benchmark Pro settings, there is a performance loss. Meanwhile, typically, in the less GPU intense tests, there is a significant though imperciptible raise, perhaps suggesting that driver overhead has been slightly lowered with the newer 23.2.1 driver.

AMD's 23.2.1 Windows 10 & 11 driver is no threat to Nvidia's ray tracing crown anytime soon

Google's Workspace Status Update page (via 9to5Google) started reporting the Gmail sync problems with Outlook and Hotmail at around 12:10 pm Eastern time. It has sinced offered frequent updates on this issue. Google stated:

IMAP syncs with Microsoft servers are experiencing failures causing sync issues with Gmail application.

The latest update on this issue, posted at at 3:30 pm Eastern time, stated this:

The investigation so far from our engineering has not uncovered any issues with Gmail application authentication and we are continuing to investigate further for the root cause.

Google is working on this problem "in partnership with the Microsoft team." Earlier this week, Outlook and Hotmail spam filters were not working on the web, but that issue has since been fixed.

We will update this post when more information is available. In the meantime, Gmail users who want access to their Outlook or Hotmail emails can simply use Microsoft's apps for both email services.

Source: Google via 9to5Google

Source

One of the highlights in the new version is something called All-in-One Search. Microsoft says that when enabled, it will allow developers to quickly find any files, types, or members. To use it, however, you will have to go through this procedure: Tools > Manage Preview Features > “New Visual Studio Search experience. You will also need to restart Visual Studio afterwards.

Another new feature is Intent-Based Suggestions. Similar to how some email clients or messaging apps offer suggestions for your next word, this new feature offers in-line suggestions for new code based on your recent changes.

The new Visual Studio 2022 update also has improvements in the tool's text visualizer, along with performances improvements in the debugger, an easier way to set up Dev Tunnels, a new native Arm64 Clang toolset, and much more. You can grab the new 17.5 version of the tools at Microsoft's Visual Studio 2022 download site for Windows and Mac PCs.

Microsoft releases Visual Studio 2022 17.5 with new features and improvements

The highlight of this driver is the official support for two brand-new games, namely Atomic Heart, which released yesterday, February 21, and Company of Heroes 3, which is coming tomorrow, February 23. AMD hasn't detailed any specifics as to what kind of improvements can players get by upgrading to this driver, but it is a recommended install for an optimal experience in both titles.

As usual, a number of bug fixes are included in this release too, which resolves a Netflix video corruption and a Hitman 3 crash among others. Here's the full list:

• Corruption may be briefly observed when moving Netflix video between displays or minimize-to-fullscreen on some AMD Products such as AMD Ryzen™ 7 6800U.
• Maximum encode bitrate is limited to 100Mbps for certain applications.
• AMD Bug Report Tool pop-up or system hang may be observed after driver upgrade on some hybrid graphics notebooks.
• Application crash may be observed while playing Hitman 3™ with ray tracing settings enabled.
• Valve Index® VR headset may show a blank screen with 144Hz refresh rate setting on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
• Certain videos played with Movies and TV may briefly show corruption when moving the window between displays on some AMD Graphics Products such as AMD Radeon™ RX 6700 XT.
• Situational performance drop may be observed in DirectX® 11 based games on Radeon™ RX 6000 series GPUs using Ryzen™ processors.

The currently known issues AMD's engineers are still working on resolving are these:

• High idle power has situationally been observed when using select high-resolution and high refresh rate displays on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
• Video stuttering or performance drop may be observed during gameplay plus video playback with some extended display configurations on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
• Application crash may be observed while opening Premium Gold Packs in EA SPORTS™ FIFA 23.
• Some virtual reality games or apps may experience lower-than-expected performance on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
• Brief display corruption may occur when switching between video and game windows on some AMD Graphics Products such as the Radeon™ RX 6700 XT.
• Metrics overlay may intermittently re-size to 50% after gameplay.
• Corruption may be observed in Returnal™ in certain scenes with ray tracing enabled on Radeon™ RX 6000 series GPUs.

The WHQL AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.2.2 driver can now be downloaded via the Radeon Settings app on Windows. A standalone link to download can also be found on the release notes page here.

AMD 23.2.2 WHQL driver has support for Atomic Heart and Company of Heroes 3

You can read the full changelog below:

Highlights

• New! This update adds an advanced auto-learning feature for facial recognition.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the colour filters setting. When you select Inverted, the system sets it to Grayscale instead.
• This update addresses an issue that affects IE mode. The text on the status bar is not always visible.
• This update addresses an issue that stops hyperlinks from working in Microsoft Excel.
• This update addresses an issue that affects a certain streaming app. The issue stops video playback after an advertisement plays in the app.

Improvements

This non-security update includes quality improvements. When you install this KB:

• This update addresses an issue that affects the Appx State Repository. When you remove a user profile, the cleanup is incomplete. Because of this, its database grows as time passes. This growth might cause delays when users sign in to multi-user environments like FSLogix.
• This update affects the United Mexican States. This update supports the government’s daylight saving time change order for 2023.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Z-order of two maximized windows. A window that is behind another window might appear on top.
• This update addresses an issue that affects AppV. It stops file names from having the correct letter case (uppercase or lowercase).
• This update addresses an issue that affects Microsoft Edge. The issue removes conflicting policies for Microsoft Edge. This occurs when you set the MDMWinsOverGPFlag in a Microsoft Intune tenant and Intune detects a policy conflict.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). Using a provisioning package for bulk provisioning fails.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS). LSASS might stop responding. This occurs after you run Sysprep on a domain-joined machine.
• This update addresses an issue that affects parity virtual disks. Using Server Manager to create them fails.

You can find the official support article here.

Microsoft fixes virtualization-related bugs, LSASS Sysprep issue with Windows 11 KB5022905

Microsoft is bringing the new Image Function of Excel into all platforms today. After its release in December, the function is now arriving to iOS and Android users as well.

The Image Function of Excel is one of the biggest additions to Microsoft’s spreadsheet program recently. It was first shared in August last year and later released in December. Initially, it was only offered to web, Windows, and Mac users, but the Redmond company announced it is now available on all platforms starting today. 

“Using the new IMAGE function, pictures can now live in the cell and be the cell value instead of floating on top of it,” said Itai Goldstein, a product manager at Microsoft. “You can use sort and filter, calculate, and write formulas with pictures, move or resize the cells, and work with Pictures within an Excel table.”

Microsoft Excel’s Image Function now available to all platforms

Microsoft also plays with words to throw shade at Chrome. The banner states that Edge uses the same technology as Chrome with the "added trust of Microsoft." The "trust" that your computer will connect to ad providers the moment you turn it on for the first time. The "trust" that Edge will shove more "recommended content" down your throat and enforce Bing without you even making a click. The "trust" that you cannot remove Edge from your computer and many more.

To be fair, Microsoft is not the only one practicing questionable things to increase the user base. Google also shows banners to promote Chrome, but they appear only on the company's websites. Google is not injecting ads on the Firefox website, nor does it cry foul whenever you want to download another browser.

Google is using much less annoying banners to promote its browser. More importantly, only on its own websites!

It is worth noting is that I could not get the banner in the latest stable Edge release, so the abomination might be a thing Microsoft tries on a limited set of Edge insiders or only in specific regions. Whatever happens in Microsoft's software labs, there are no signs of the company making its browser (a great browser so far) less irritating, which is just sad.

Microsoft is now injecting full-size ads on Chrome website to make you stay on Edge

The full changelog is below:

• New! This update provided access Windows Studio effects directly from quick settings on the taskbar for devices that had a supported neural processing unit (NPU). This made it quick and easy to turn on and configure camera effects. Those effects included Background blur, Eye contact, Automatic framing, and Audio effects (Voice focus). You can still access these effects in the Settings pages.
• New! This update made it easier to get help if you were having PC issues. It added a link to the Quick Assist app at the bottom of Settings > System > Troubleshooters. You could also find Quick Assist in the Start menu’s All apps list.
• New! This update improved the search box experience on the taskbar. As you typed in the search box, search results appeared in the search box. You could also change the search experience you wanted for your taskbar by going to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar. For commercial customers, this update added a new policy for IT administrators to manage how the search box on the taskbar appears in your organization. For more information, see Customizing search on the Windows 11 taskbar.
• New! This update provided energy recommendations. If you used them, they could help to improve the energy efficiency of your PC and reduce your carbon footprint. Go to Settings > System > Power & Battery > Energy Recommendations.
• New! This update enhanced the system tray (formerly called the notification area). All icons had a rounded focus and hover treatment in the lower right, including the “Show hidden icons” flyout menu. You could move icons to rearrange them in the “Show hidden icons” flyout menu or move icons to the taskbar.

• New! This update introduced a touch-optimized taskbar for 2-in-1 devices that you could use as a tablet. There were two states of this taskbar: collapsed and expanded. To switch between the two states, swipe up and down on the bottom of your screen. When collapsed in tablet mode, the taskbar receded to give you more screen space and kept you from accidentally opening the taskbar. When expanded in tablet mode, the taskbar was optimized to be easier to use with touch. Your taskbar automatically changed to this optimized version when you disconnected or folded back the keyboard.
  • This feature only worked on devices that could be used as tablets and was on by default. To change that, go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors. The setting is called “Optimize taskbar for touch interactions when this device is used as a tablet.” If your company manages Windows updates for your device, this feature will be off by default. Administrators can turn it on using the new commercial control for continuous innovation.

• New! This update provided enhanced support for braille devices. They continued working while you switched between Microsoft Narrator and third-party screen readers. Narrator automatically changed braille drivers. For more information, see Chapter 8: Using Narrator with braille.
• New! This update also added support for new braille displays and new braille input and output languages in Narrator. Some of the new braille displays included the APH Chameleon, the APH Mantis Q40, the NLS eReader, and many more. For more information, see Chapter 8: Using Narrator with braille.
• New! This update made voice access more flexible and supported interaction with more user interface (UI) controls. For example, voice interacted with controls that contained:
  • Names that had numbers, such as “Click 5”
  • Names without whitespaces between them, such as “click PivotTable” or “click PivotChart”
  • Names that had special characters, such as Bluetooth & devices (“click Bluetooth and devices”) or Dial – up (“click dial hyphen up”)
• New! This update added voice access support for spin controls, thumb controls, and split buttons. You interact with these controls by using the “click” command or number overlays. This update also fixed issues that affected snapping commands that snapped a window left or right. Commands that moved the cursor in a text box ran instantly.
• New! This update also provided voice scrolling enhancements. You could use voice to scroll to the extreme left and right on a page. You could also use continuous scrolling to the left or right like what is already present for vertical scrolling. For more information about the new voice access commands, see Voice access command list.

• New! For devices that were joined to Azure Active Directory (AAD), this update provided AI-powered recommended content on your Start menu. On the Start menu, you found content to help you to prepare for meetings, quickly access files you were collaborating on, and more.
• New! We added the new Tamil Anjal keyboard for the Tamil language. To add it, make sure Tamil (Singapore), Tamil (Malaysia), Tamil (Sri Lanka), or Tamil (India) appears in Settings > Time & Language > Language & Region. Select the ellipses (…) next to the language. Select Language Options. Add Tamil Anjal (QWERTY) to the list of keyboards.
• We fixed an issue that affected the colour filters setting. When you selected Inverted, the system set it to Grayscale instead.
• We improved the reliability of Windows after you installed an update.
• We supported the United Mexican States’ daylight-saving time change order for 2023.
• We fixed a date information issue. It affected the format of dates sent between Windows and some versions of the Heimdal Kerberos library.

• We fixed an issue that affected IE mode. The text on the status bar was not always visible.
• We fixed compatibility issues that affected some printers. Those printers used Windows Graphical Device Interface (GDI) printer drivers. Those drivers did not completely adhere to GDI specifications.
• We fixed an issue that affected the software keyboard. It did not appear in the Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE) after a Push-button reset (factory reset). This type of reset required an external keyboard to be attached to provide credentials.
• We fixed an issue that displayed a blue screen during video playback. This occurred after you set high dynamic range (HDR) on your display.
• We fixed an issue that might have affected the touch keyboard and the PIN entry keyboard. You might not have been able to use them to enter text when you signed in to your device.

• We fixed an issue that affected AppV. It stopped file names from having the correct letter case (uppercase or lowercase).
• We fixed an issue that affected Microsoft Edge. The issue removed conflicting policies for Microsoft Edge. This occurred when you set the MDMWinsOverGPFlag in a Microsoft Intune tenant and Intune detected a policy conflict.
• We fixed an issue that affected provisioning packages. They failed to apply in certain circumstances when elevation was required.
• We fixed an issue that affected Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). Using a provisioning package for bulk provisioning failed.
• We fixed an issue that affected Universal Print’s Configuration Service Provider (CSP). A command prompt window appeared when you installed a printer.

• We fixed a reliability issue that occurred when you used Task View.
• We fixed an issue that affected which folders appeared in the Browse for Folder picker.
• We fixed an issue that affected File Explorer. When you used Shift +Tab or Shift+F6, the input focus did not move.
• We fixed an issue that affected the user interface (UI). The volume up and volume down commands from a Bluetooth keyboard did not display.
• We fixed an issue that affected Xbox subscribers. If you purchased an Xbox subscription using the “Redeem code” option, the Xbox subscription card did not appear on the Settings Accounts page. This occurred when recurring billing was off.

• We fixed an issue that might have affected lsass.exe. It might have stopped responding. This occurred when it sent a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) query to a domain controller that had a very large LDAP filter.
• We fixed an issue that affected the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS). LSASS might have stopped responding. This occurred after you ran Sysprep on a domain-joined machine.
• We fixed an issue that affected copying from a network to a local drive. Copying was slower than expected for some users.
• We fixed an issue that affected parity virtual disks. Using Server Manager to create them failed.

Microsoft did not share any known issues with this build.

You can view the original blog post here.

Windows 11 Release Preview (KB5022913) makes installing updates more reliable, and more

As we have mentioned in the past, Microsoft will no longer release optional non-security updates for Windows 10, versions 20H2 and 21H2 after March 2023, with only cumulative monthly security updates being released for those versions. Windows 10, version 22H2 will still get security and optional updates after March.

Here are the release highlights of the new KB5022906 update:

• New! This update improves your experience when you use Windows Spotlight on your lock screen. The informational links open faster.
• This update addresses an issue that affects IE mode. The text on the status bar is not always visible.
• This update addresses accessibility issues. They affect Narrator on the Settings home page.
• This update addresses an issue that stops hyperlinks from working in Microsoft Excel.
• This update addresses an issue that affects a certain streaming app. The issue stops video playback after an advertisement plays in the app.

You can also check out the full change log for the preview build

• This update addresses an issue that affects the Appx State Repository. When you remove a user profile, the cleanup is incomplete. Because of this, its database grows as time passes. This growth might cause delays when users sign in to multi-user environments like FSLogix.
• This update affects the United Mexican States. This update supports the government’s daylight saving time change order for 2023.
• This update addresses a resource conflict issue between two or more threads (known as a deadlock). This deadlock affects COM+ applications.
• This update addresses an issue that affects cbs.log. This issue logs messages that are not error messages in cbs.log.
• This update improves how the Remove-Item cmdlet works for Microsoft OneDrive folders.
• This update addresses an issue that affects AppV. It stops file names from having the correct letter case (uppercase or lowercase).
• This update addresses an issue that affects Microsoft Edge. The issue removes conflicting policies for Microsoft Edge. This occurs when you set the MDMWinsOverGPFlag in a Microsoft Intune tenant and Intune detects a policy conflict.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). Using a provisioning package for bulk provisioning fails.
• This update addresses an issue that affects MSInfo.exe. It does not correctly report the enforcement status of the Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) user mode policy.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS). LSASS might stop responding. This occurs after you run Sysprep on a domain-joined machine.
• This update addresses an issue that affects virtual machines (VM). They stop responding when you add a new disk to a storage pool in thin provisioning scenarios.

There is one known issue with this build:

The update is available for these Windows 10 versions

• Windows 10 Enterprise Multi-Session, version 20H2
• Windows 10 Enterprise and Education, version 20H2
• Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, version 20H2
• Windows 10 on Surface Hub
• Windows 10 version 21H2, all editions
• Windows 10, version 22H2, all editions

How to get the update

You can search for this update in Windows Update by going to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. In the Optional updates available area, you’ll find the link to download and install the update, or download the update manually from Microsoft Update Catalog here. To know more about this update, head over to the support article on Microsoft's official website here.

Windows 10 Preview (KB5022906) is out with Windows Spotlight improvements and more

There will be a large swathe of features and upgrades that will come as a part of this new version, but the announcement post goes into general detail of a few of the upcoming changes and additions, and Preview 1 includes some of these to try today, such as:

• Native Ahead-of-Time (AOT) - The first of these features were shipped with .NET 7 last year, however there will be more refinements to this platform, with it coming to macOS for the first time, as part of .NET 8. The main focus of the .NET team is to refine some fundamentals such as size, an example being a "Hello, World" app that has been published with Native AOT being half the size when using .NET 8 Preview 1 in comparison to .NET 7.
• .NET Container images - Preview 1 includes improvements to how container images can be used for .NET applications, including updating the default Linux distro to Debian 12 (Bookworm). It also includes a tagging change (using 8.0-preview and not 8.0 which will start with Release Candidates), and the ability for container images to be non-root user capable.

Jeremy Likness, the Principal Program Manager for .NET, wraps up the post saying that ".NET 8 Preview 1 is a testament to the power of collaboration between a diverse team of engineers at Microsoft and a highly engaged open source community."

You can download the first preview of .NET 8.0 here, and find more details on the release notes as they happen on GitHub.

Microsoft announces .NET 8 Preview 1, available to download today

Chrome 110 will automatically discard background tabs. Here’s how to stop it.

Fast forward three months to February 2023, things have apparently begun progressing into the Beta channel. Around a couple of weeks back, what seem to be internal builds, 23141 and 23145, were spotted. And now it looks like the upcoming Moment 3 update is readying for a rollout to Windows 11 Insiders via the Beta channel some time in the very near future.

Yesterday, a new build 22624 (KB5023011) popped up and was spotted by users online in the form of enablement package (EKB5023595). The 2262x build numbers are deployed by Microsoft for the Beta channel and the upcoming Moment 2 feature update uses "22623", and likewise, 22624 is meant to denote Moment 3. Since then, more packages for Moment 3 have surfaced today, inside the latest Beta build. This is also one of the few times that the "moment" reference has been seen inside Windows.

In terms of release date, earlier reports had suggested that Windows 11 22H2 Moment 3 could be out in May of this year. Further reports suggest it will be followed by Moment 4 later in the year (Windows 11 version 23H2). In fact, new rumors of 23H2 also made the rounds recently.

While the progress is good to see, there of course remain loads of bugs to iron out. One of those might be related to the default NVMe driver on Windows 11, which is causing BSOD and freezing issues for WD SSDs.

Source: techosarusrex (Twitter) via Xeno (Twitter)

More Windows 11 22H2 Moment 3 enablement packages leak, releasing later in 2023

When you attempt to log into your profile, instead of welcome you are greeted with preparing.

Once the profile loads you notice all of your files appear to be gone. Most likely Windows had problems loading your profile so it loaded a temporary profile instead.

You can check to make sure all of your files are still there by clicking start and typing c:\users and pressing enter.

You should see a 3 profiles, one that says public, one with your username and one called Temp. The temp profile is the one you are currently logged in to. Double click the profile with your username and you should see all the directories with all of your files.

Here is how to potentially make your old profile load again.

Disclaimer: You will be opening and modifying the registry. Editing, or deleting the wrong registry key can break things. If you do not feel comfortable proceeding, find someone to help you.

• Click start
• Type Regedit and press enter

Navigate to the following registry key below. If you are in Windows 10 / 11 you can copy and paste the registry key location into the bar on top of the registry editor and then press enter. This will take you directly to the correct registry key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

Below Profilelist you should see a bunch of folders, two of them should have the same name except 1 of them will have .bak behind it. If you highlight it you should see your profile name on the right hand side.

First highlight the folder "Profilelist" and then click file and export.

This just lets us make a backup copy of this folder. Choose a location to save it and give it a name, click save.

Now highlight the folder that does not have .bak on the end of it. Right click it and click rename. Now add .old to the end of it.

Now right click the folder that has .bak on the end of it and click rename again. This time we will remove the .bak from the end of the folder.

Your folders should now look like the photo below.

That's it! You're done! Simply sign out of this profile and attempt to sign in again. With any luck your profile should load without issue and you should see your files once again.

Happy Computing!

If you learned something today, great! If not, maybe share your own tech tip in the comments below!

How to fix a corrupt Windows Profile

Google Lens is also available on the Web, as part of Google Images. Internet users may use any browser, including Google Chrome, to use Lens on the Web.

This guide walks you through the steps of using Google Lens in Chrome and other browsers.

Google Lens in Chrome

Google Lens is a visual search tool that returns information about images or photos. A common example is to use Google Lens for identification. Take a photo of art, a toy, appliance or plant, and feed it to Lens to look up information about it. Google expanded Lens to offer translations and shopping options as well.

Google Lens on the Internet is attached to Google Images, but Google has also integrated actions directly into its Chrome web browser.

In fact, there is just a single step required to start a new Google Lens search from Chrome.

1. Right-click on any image that is visible in Chrome and select "Search image with Google".

Google Chrome opens Google Lens in the web browser's sidebar when the search action is selected.

Tip: you can load local images and photos into Google Chrome using drag & drop. The "search image with Google" option is displayed for these on a right-click as well.

The sidebar offers a wealth of functionality. First, Google Lens attempts to identify the image or photo. It may suggest multiple names or titles, and users may start Google searches for the selected name or title right from the Google Lens interface.

Google Lens returns visual matches beneath these identifiers. It lists other sites on which the same or similar images have been published. It is a useful feature to find out more about an image, for example, to find out which stores sell a piece of furniture or hardware.

Google Lens supports other features. Some of these depend on the type of image. At the top of the Google Lens sidebar interface are options to switch to text and translate modes.

Text is an OCR tool that identifies text in images and returns it to the user. The text may then be copied to the Clipboard, listened to, translated to another language using Google Translate, or you may search for it.

Search results are displayed underneath the list of available actions, and it takes just a click to open a linked resource in Google Chrome.

Translate, finally, identifies text in images as well, but it is offering to translate the source language into any other that Google Translate supports immediately. It is a useful feature to understand what signs, posters and other types of images mean.

Other browsers

Note that Google Lens is also available directly via Google Images. The feature is available in all browsers, and it supports uploading an image for identification.

Just visited the Google Images website and select the "search by image" icon there. Images may be uploaded from the local system or as image links.

The same options become available on the Google Images website. You may use Lens to identify an image, copy text or translate text.

Closing Words

Google Lens in Chrome and on the Web is not as powerful as the Google Lens app for mobile. The main usability issue is that it is more difficult to make it process custom images, taken with a camera or webcam. While local images are supported, it is not as straightforward a process as on mobile.

Still, Google Lens can be a useful tool to identify images, copy or translate text, or find the origins of images on the Internet using Google Search.

Now You: do you use Google Lens or other image-based search tools?

How to use Google Lens Search in Google Chrome

According to these reports, users are facing blue screen of death (BSOD) or system freezes and restarts with the error "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\RaidPort" message on their WD_BLACK SN850X SSDs. Some believe it is the default Windows NVMe driver that could be causing the problem as people who have forced-installed Micron drivers on their SSDs claim the issue has been resolved. Here's what user dhnguyen writes on the WD community thread discussing the problem:

I reported this problem more than 1 month ago, the response is that the issue has been known, a new firmware will be released to fix, but no ETA. I fixed it myself by force installing another NVME driver instead of default Windows one.
I’m using this one:
64bit Micron NVMe driver v2.1.19.0 WHQL
The error code is gone and no crashes at all.

Western Digital (WD) is seemingly aware of the problem and a firmware is in the works. Reddit user reddimus_prime says that WD responded with the following response to their support request:

We are aware of the issue and have a planned firmware release soon to address it. The error is not a fatal flaw and does not affect the drive or performance/computer other than adding messages to the event viewer.

No exact ETA but a firmware will be released though Western Digital Dashboard soon.

If you have any further questions, please reply to this email and we will be happy to assist you further.

Sincerely, Brandon G Western Digital Customer Service and Support

Firmware information and other related details related to your WD SSD can be found on the Western Digital Dashboard. The company recommends backing your data when conducting a firmware update just in case.

WD SN850X NVMe SSD that beat Samsung, Seagate, and Hynix is BSODing and freezing Windows 11

The hardware noise tool has been worked on the past few months by Daniel Bristot de Oliveira. The hwnoise tool relies on the operating system noise (osnoise) tracer and displays a summary of the noise attributed to hardware by running with interrupts disabled. The hwnoise tool offers similar features to osnoise while displaying just non-maskable interrupts (NMIs) and hardware-related noise.

More details on the hwnoise tool can be found via this documentation commit.

The tracing pull request was sent out this weekend in preparation for the now-open Linux 6.3 merge window.

Source

Unlike traditional VPN services, Edge Secured Network does not allow picking a server in a specific country or location. However, you have three modes to customize the experience for your needs:

• Select Sites - Edge uses the VPN only on websites specified in the "Use VPN" list. For example, if you need a VPN only to access one or two region-restricted websites.
• Optimized - Rerouts all traffic through the VPN whenever you connect to a public or unsecured network or a website without a valid certificate. This mode also routes videos outside the VPN to conserve the data (1GB/mo is the default free limit).
• All Sites - Built-in VPN is always on.

Microsoft allows select Edge insiders to test up to 15GB of free monthly traffic, but the limit should return to 1GB once the feature is available to all users. Those needing more data will get the option to purchase extra traffic. Pricing, unfortunately, remains unknown. Considering the VPN is about to launch, expect Microsoft to announce pricing and availability soon.

Would you use a native VPN in Microsoft Edge? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Dr. Windows

Edge's built-in VPN reportedly comes to users in the Stable Channel

Here's a quick recap of these new features. The first is Memory Saver, which will come in handy if you have a lot of tabs on your Chrome browser. Normally, a large amount of tabs can cause RAM issues. However, with the Memory Saver feature turned on, any tabs that you are not actively using are automatically taken out of active memory, until you click on one of those tabs. If you want, you can set up Memory Saver to exempt certain web sites from this feature.

Energy Saver, when enabled, will kick in after your laptop goes below 20 percent of its battery charge. When that happens, the feature will automatically limit any animations and videos on the web page that Chrome is currently viewing.

While other web browsers have similar features, like Microsoft Edge with its Sleeping Tabs and its Efficiency Mode, there's no denying that Google adding Memory Saver and Energy Saver to Chrome will cause these kinds of performance enhancements to become more widely used.

Google Chrome is rolling out new Memory Saver and Energy Saver features for laptops

Fast forward three months to February 2023, things have apparently begun progressing into the Beta channel. Around a couple of weeks back, what seem to be internal builds, 23141 and 23145, were spotted. And now it looks like the upcoming Moment 3 update is now readying for a rollout to Windows 11 Insiders via the Beta channel some time in the very near future.

Earlier today, a new build 22624 (KB5023011) was spotted by users on the PCBeta Chinese forum. It looks like Moment 3 could be released with the help of an enablement package (KB5023595). The 2262x build numbers are deployed by Microsoft for the Beta channel and the upcoming Moment 2 feature update uses "22623". Hence, 22624 is very likely denoting Moment 3 as speculations suggest.

This makes sense as earlier reports had suggested that Windows 11 22H2 Moment 3 could be out in May of this year. Further reports suggest it will be followed by Moment 4 later in the year (Windows 11 version 23H2). In fact, new rumors and murmurs of 23H2 also made the rounds recently.

Source: PCBeta forum

Upcoming Windows 11 build 22624 (KB5023011) means Microsoft is ready to roll out Moment 3

The tool, however, has undergone a nomenclature change again. The new name of the application is now BloatyNosy. On the GitHub page, the dev explained why this update was made:

The name "Debloos, Deblos" appears to be a family name (also present in politics) and I have been "advised" not to use it further, if possible. I have no problem with it, and I have already had a good, bad, and funny experience with name changes.

Aside from the renaming, the app also received improvements to it with the previous 0.3.0 version. These include a new "Win11 Setup" page, a "WinModder" page, which will be an market place for mod files within the TIW11 app, and several bug fixes. The release notes can be viewed below:

• Upgraded Debloos "WinModder" app/page (featuring interal[sic] marketplace for mod files)

• Updated Debloos "Win11 Setup" page

• Code refactoring

• Numerous bug fixes

   

The developer notes that the update was tested on the recent Windows 11 Dev build 25295. The left image below shows the new home page and the right one is that of the WinModdr Marketplace.

You can download the new BloatyNosy utility from the app's GitHub page.

Windows 11 debloater app renamed again, gets new setup page, mods marketplace, and more

What is new in the Files App 2.4.40?

A built-in tags editor is the highlight of the release. Before version 2.4.40, creating and editing tags required working with a JSON file, which is not the most user-friendly variant. Now the Files App features a built-in UI that lets you create and edit tags. You can apply created tags to files and folders and keep track of them using the recently introduced tags widget or search (for example, tag:important).

Another change in the Files App 2.4.40 is improved context menus. They no longer change their size when shell extensions finish loading. Instead, the app uses a loading indicator to inform the user about shell extensions getting ready for work. Besides, widgets on the home page now support shell extensions.

The app also allows customizing the context menu and disabling options, such as "Open in new tab" and "Open in new window."

Here is the complete changelog:

• Added a settings page for editing tags
• Made it easier to remove tags from files in the details layout
• The context menu height no longer changes when shell extensions finish loading
• Added shell extensions when right clicking widgets on the home page
• Refreshed the icons in the toolbar and right click context menu
• Moved the context menu settings to the preferences page
• Added support for hiding the open in new tab/window options from the right click context menu
• Added keyboard shortcut to open Windows Terminal as administrator
• Fixed issue with resizing the status column
• Fixed an issue where items would sometimes be selected when they shouldn't have been
• Fixed an issue where the option to hide details in the preview pane wasn't working
• Fixed the "not a folder" message that would show after changing the language
• Fixed an issue where shell extensions wouldn't show when right clicking in archives
• Fixed an issue where the right click menu sometimes had multiple separator lines when there should have only been one
• Fixed issue where the tab icons weren't showing

The Files App is available in the Microsoft Store for $9.99. You can also download the pre-release version from the official website and test the upcoming updates that will bring even more improvements to the context menus.

Files 2.4.40 is out with tags editor, improved context menus, and other changes

In a short blog post, Linux founder and lead developer Linus Torvalds explained that, in the lead up to the release, there had been a few small fixes, stating: “I wasn't going to apply any last-minute patches that weren't actively pushed by maintainers”.

As nothing stood out as worthy of delaying the release of 6.2, Torvalds said any touches that had not been applied “will have to show up for stable.”

Linux 6.2

The 6.3 merge window has already opened, but Torvalds as ever has urged testers to check out version 6.2 to ensure that everything is running smoothly.

It may not be a “sexy LTS release”, he said, but these sorts of “pedestrian kernels” require just as much testing as any other.

This is perhaps underplaying the fact Linux-based operating systems are now supported on a wide array of Apple's proprietary silicon, including the M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra chips, thanks to the work of Asahi Linux’s developers being brought forward.

Apple’s M-series chips have been great news for die-hard macOS fans, bringing significant performance enhancements to all aspects of processing and efficiency, however they have posed a roadblock to other hardware applications.

The mainline Linux support joins the recent news that Windows 11 is now available on M1 and M2-based Macs through virtual machine software Parallels 18.

While good news, it's unclear what this could mean for the Linux roadmap going forward. While it doesn’t have the multi-billion dollar backing that Windows and macOS may have, its determined set of developers is likely to continue working on wider compatibility for future releases.

Source

The first Linux Kernel 6.2 release candidate was announced in late December 2022. The stable version was released on schedule and work on Linux Kernel 6.3 starts tomorrow. The official release announcement by Linus Torvalds is available on the mailing list.

Torvalds notes: "So here we are, right on (the extended) schedule, with 6.2 out". There have been "a couple of small things [..] on the regression side", but nothing "seemed even remotely worth trying to delay things for". He admits that "it's not a sexy LTS release like 6.1, but regular kernels want some test love too".

Linux Kernel 6.2

Linux Kernel 6.2 is the first stable release of the year. One of the main improvements is support for Intel Arc graphics cards. Intel launched the Arc line of graphics cards last year. Reception was mixed, with price and video hardware decoding mentioned as positive features specifically, and problematic performance in certain kinds of games as a negative.

Linux Kernel features out-of-the-box support for Intel Arc graphics. Support had only been experimental previously. The change applies to other DG2-based Intel GPUs as well. Intel's On-Demand driver feature is supported as well in the release.

For Apple hardware, Linux Kernel 6.2 includes mainline support for Apple M1 Pro, Mac and Ultra chips.

Linux Kernel 6.2 features initial NVIDIA RTX 30 / Ampere GPU support in the open source Nouveau driver. Nvidia open sourced their Linux GPU kernel modules and first steps have been undertaken to better support NVIDIA GPUs. Performance is still relatively poor though according to initial reports.

Another improvement comes in form of support for Sony PlayStation 5 DualSense Edge Controllers and PlayStation 4 DualShock 4 controllers, which are now integrated natively.

The new kernel includes other improvements, including the following ones (via Phoronix)

• Support for more Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs.
• A scalability improvement for large IBM Power systems.
• RISC-V support for persistent memory devices.
• Raspberry Pi 4K @ 60Hz display support.
• Updates for AMD RDNA3 GPUs.
• Compute Accelerator Subsystem support.

Linux Kernel 6.2 is available already as source code and users may download and compile it manually. Depending on the Linux distribution, new Kernels may be integrated in upcoming releases or as updates.

Linux Kernel 6.2 is out with Intel Arc and Sony PlayStation controller support

While the Teams development team have released updates to the current client that contain smaller performance increases, including one in late 2022, this new Teams app will allegedly have some big improvements in terms of the hardware resources it will take up on PCs. The story reports that it will use 50 percent less memory, and will also have better CPU performance, although it's unclear how big of an improvement Teams will get in that area. The new client will also reportedly give laptops an unnamed boost in battery life when in use. In short, the new Teams will reportedly launch faster, and work better, especially on older desktops and laptops.

All of these big increases in performance is reportedly due to moving Teams from the old Electron platform to the more recent Microsoft Edge WebView2. The story adds that the new Teams will also use the Javascript-based library React, which will allow Microsoft developers to put in UI improvements in the client. Those improvements will be added sometime in the coming months.

If, for some reason, the upcoming preview version of Teams doesn't work, the story says there will be a toggle that will allow users to switch between the current and new versions. There's no word on how long Microsoft plans to wait until Teams 2.0 becomes the default version.

Microsoft Teams reportedly will preview big app resource improvements and overhaul in March